Trump to pitch border wall in prime-time speech

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump will speak to the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday to make his case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. A dispute over funding the wall sparked a budget crisis and a partial government shutdown, now in its 18th day. If the shutdown stretches to this weekend, it will mark the longest in history.

All of the major broadcast and cable news networks have agreed to carry the prime-time address Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST. The speech, expected to last about eight minutes, will be the president’s first televised address from the Oval Office. On Thursday, he will visit the southern border to highlight what the administration is calling a “national security and humanitarian crisis.”

In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded TV networks give equal air time to Democrats to respond to the address, but it is unclear whether they will do so.

TV networks do not always air presidential addresses on controversial subjects. In 2006, they carried President George W. Bush’s prime-time speech on immigration but declined to carry President Barack Obama’s address in 2014, deeming it too political.

Comments

Brendan Bossard

news2me

PELOSI has already made her pitch on the media--making her talk show rounds.

She has made this SO political. I saw her on CBS. Her senility shows. CBS is so biased. Why don't they see what is going on?

She had to pass Obama's health care bill so she could find out what is in it. She didn't care what was in it because WE PAY FOR HER FREE HEALTH CARE. (Shows that she doesn't read any bills before they are passed.)

The monsters in the DC swamp should be subjected to a test to see if they are able to govern.

West Coast Gramma

West Coast Gramma

Posted: Tue, 01/08/2019 04:33 pm

Drawing diagrams and thinking can help clarify political issues. I admit that I am unable to find a logical connection on the one hand between funding food stamps in the agricultural department, low income rental properties in Housing and Urban Development, IRS workers in the Treasury Department, tax refunds, and even TSA and CBP wages for national security with funding a border wall on the other. Can anyone help me connect these dots? Why should my Aunt Lucy, of all people, down at her local airport, be working without a paycheck because the president lacks the diplomacy to garner Congressional support for a border wall half a nation away? Am I missing something? It does sound like a hostage situation of innocent bystanders to me, and forgive me if I'm mistaken, but Trump carries all the characteristics of a bully autocrat.

John Kloosterman

Posted: Wed, 01/09/2019 08:38 pm

The great dealmaker, right here! Didn't bother to push for it last time we passed a budget, so decides to do it now while Congress fills with people who don't like him. Totally the Democrats fault this is happening. Nothing to do with Trump walking out of a negotiation meeting.

OldMike

Posted: Wed, 01/09/2019 11:48 pm

Gramma, if your Aunt, currently working without a paycheck, is just getting by week-to-week, and you are not in a position to help her until the back-pay arrives, please forward her name and number to me and I’ll be glad to make her a loan to tide her over. No interest. Just some friendly temporary assistance.

In fact, if anyone else knows someone who will have trouble making payments or buying groceries until the back-pay comes in, I recommend others also extend a hand. Not a handout but a compassionate help-out.

There was a time when it was normal for Americans, particularly Christians, to do such things. Now it seems all people want to do is scream in a street protest or make nasty postings on Facebook.

OldMike

Posted: Wed, 01/09/2019 11:37 pm

I think the negotiations here are more for lining up the public’s support for the respective sides.

I’ll stick with President Trump for now. He has a lot of ground to cover before he can be found to have lied to me, or acted against my interests, as much as the Democrats. After all, they have a several-decades head start on him. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of so-called conservatives who have worked hand-in-hand with the Dems, against the interests of the American People.

WHAT? You didn’t know? You thought this immigration situation just began on Trump’s Inauguration Day? Nope, been kicked down the road by Congress, Presidents, the State Dept. etc. for years. Until it reached its present level of messiness. By both R’s and D’s.